


Something Incredible

by ipreferaviators



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-07
Updated: 2012-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-30 17:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ipreferaviators/pseuds/ipreferaviators
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the time since John moved into 221b, he has discovered exactly two ways to consistently surprise Sherlock: compliment him, and notice something Sherlock didn't expect him to. Sherlock, on his part, consistently surprises John by not considering the area of study where those two overlap.</p>
<p>A companion to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/321029">Insufficient Data</a>. Both stand alone, but are intended as parallels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Incredible

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Carl Sagan: "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

In the time since John moved into 221b, he has discovered exactly two ways to consistently surprise Sherlock: compliment him, and notice something Sherlock didn't expect him to. Sherlock, on his part, consistently surprises John by not considering the area of study where those two overlap.

John knows what people think about Sherlock. He's heard the insults bandied about crime scenes, the calls of "freak" and "future serial killer" and "sociopath." He also knows what people think of him, though no one goes so far as to say it to his face. He knows they think he's a freak in his own right for putting up with Sherlock, for _needing_ Sherlock the way he does. They think he's broken and a martyr and several other things that all add up to somehow being almost as bad as Sherlock while still being a poor, long-suffering soul with far more patience than anyone else. John also knows how wrong they all are, but, unlike Sherlock, he doesn't feel the need to point it out at every opportunity. He and Sherlock work in a way that John has never worked with anyone, and the rest of the world wouldn't understand. He's not going to cheapen it by trying to make them.

John sometimes wonders if Sherlock himself understands. He knows Sherlock thinks of himself as a high-functioning sociopath, which is ridiculous. John sometimes wants to go find the psychologist who made that diagnosis and introduce him to Moriarty, or Sebstian, or Phillip (a member of John's regiment who John always suspected of killing for the sake of killing, not for the sake of Queen and country), or any of the handful of actual sociopaths John's encountered over the years. Sherlock, for all the body parts in the fridge and obsession with puzzles, is not one of them.

John knows this because he's _noticed_ it. He notices the way Sherlock's face cycles quickly through anger, regret, annoyance, and back to anger whenever he's accidentally said something particularly awful to Molly. He notices when Sherlock grabs Mrs. Hudson's grocery bags out of her overful arms and carries them into her kitchen for her. He notices when Sherlock smiles, ever so slightly, whenever Lestrade makes a joke that doesn't have Sherlock as the butt of it. And most of all, he notices how Sherlock looks at _him_. He notices the lingering glances that can't be explained by something John's just said or done. He notices the way Sherlock looks away, guilty and too quickly, when John catches him and smiles. He notices the way Sherlock is always around, even when John's on a date (not that he minds; as much as Sherlock gets bored, so does John. Dating passes the time). He notices the little touches that Sherlock gives to no one else.

He notices, and he waits. Because Sherlock hasn't noticed yet.


End file.
